Well, a whole bunch of pet bloggers got together to teach their dogs tricks AND give away a ton of awesome pet prizes to YOU! All this, btw, is thanks to the pet-blogger-herding efforts of Jodi from Kol’s Notes and Jessica from Beagles and Bargains. Without them, there’s no way I’d have this all together for you today! So, read on to learn about our trick, to see the results, and to enter to win some seriously amazing prizes! (No joke, you guys. They’re SERIOUSLY amazing!)

This post is sponsored by the brands listed in the prizes below!

So, here we are! Learning tricks and having fun!

The trick we picked?

Say your prayers!

This turned out to be super fun because John and I worked together on it, something we hadn’t done in a long time. And, it was a good reminder to us about the point of trick training: FUN! More on that in a minute…

A couple weeks ago, I shared an Instagram Story when I found myself with a few minutes of free time, a clicker, and some treats. I figured: Why not? Let’s see if I can get Coop to reliably put his paws up on the couch.

He got it right away, but then I realized that I needed to back up a step. Instead of him walking over and jumping his front legs up to the couch, I needed him to sit first so that he looked, you know, prayerful.

How to teach your dog to say your prayers:

Pick a spot to start. The side of a bed would be cute. Our bed is too high to be comfortable for him, so I went with the couch. Bonus: My couch has a little ottoman that served as a block for him as we progressed. This wasn’t planned, but it worked. More on that in a sec.

Lure your dog to the couch (or bed) so that he’s facing it but right up close against it. When your dog sits (the next step), he automatically shifts back a smidge, so you need him to be super close.

Ask for a sit. You ultimately need your pupper to be sitting super close and facing the couch or bed. He might feel awkward sitting in that spot (Coop definitely did), so it might take a few tries beyond a simple “sit” cue to keep him from backing up away from the couch.

Paws up. Thankfully, Cooper already has a solid “paw” cue, so it took a couple reps of me having my hand on the couch before he got it.

HERE WE PAUSE FOR AN ASIDE: We worked on the sit + paws up for WAY longer than the initial paws up (from a stand). We did get him to do it and sustain it, but… it dawned on me and John that he was uncomfortable in that position. I’ve written about his oddly-splayed back hips before, and this was a time they came into play. He didn’t feel comfy sitting and putting his paws up. And that’s OK! No, his final trick isn’t a “by the books” say your prayers, but circling back to the main point: Trick training is for fun! That’s it! Just fun! And if your dog’s not having fun? You make a change. So, at this point, we swapped from sit + paws up to stand + paws up. You figure out what’s best for you and your dog at this point because, again. FUN.

Chin down. Here’s where things get cute. Your dog carefully places his chin between his paws to look prayerful. This took longer than 1-5 altogether. Why? We have worked for years and years and years and YEARS to get Cooper to look into our eyes. It’s standard reactive-dog training. But, when you hit on something where you need him to actively look away? It flies in the face of what he knows. That’s where the ottoman came in handy. He wanted to physically turn his body toward us, to see us, but he was restricted by that block. Ultimately, we used our well-conditioned touch stick to lure his chin down. If you don’t already have a touch stick that your dog is conditioned to, if he knows how to target anything (your hand, a sticky note) do that. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to lure with a treat in hand. Enclose the treat in your fist. Hold it to your dog’s nose, then slowwwwwwly move it back until his chin hits the couch, then click + treat.

No joke: Steps 1-5 took us about 7 minutes. Step 6? Two 10-minute sessions.

This isn’t a hard trick, but it is super cute.

That said, so many people asked us if we could please teach Violet to say her prayers alongside Cooper. Wouldn’t it be so cute?

Sure would!

She was a hard no.

Training a dog? Super fun and rewarding! Not hard but oftentimes challenging!

Training a toddler? Um. Yeah.

What tricks are you working on with your dogs these days? Any fun challenges or lessons learned? Any good tips up your sleeve to go with those tricks? We’d love to hear them in the comments!

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A little background (making this not quite wordless… oops…): John decided to teach Lucas doggy dancing. Lucas needs low-impact outlets for exercise, and he’s a smarty pants who loves to learn. It seemed like the perfect fit. They were having SO much fun! Lots of laughing and tail wagging. But, life intervened, and John ran out of time to work on the moves. Last night, we were sitting in a room full of boxes, working on some training and socialization (you’ll see…) when John decided to run through the moves that they previously had down pat. He wanted to see where they were so he can start working again in earnest, and to up the ante on the socialization (just wait… you’ll see…).

Little did I know, Owen had so much fun doing hand signals with Emmett that, in his mind, he turned it into The Signals Game.

And so we played it. And we continued to play The Signals Game every time I visited Owen with the dogs in tow.

When we adopted Emmett in 2006, we picked him up from the shelter on a Thursday, and we took our very first training class that Saturday. Our trainer (hi, Jeree!) taught us to use hand signals with Emmett from the very beginning, so we incorporated that into our training with Lucas and, of course, with Cooper.

Cooper excels at hand signals. The other two are good with them and respond frequently without the paired verbal cue. But Cooper? If you teach him something with a paired hand signal, he gets it right away. Verbal cues take him much longer.

Further, it didn’t occur to me until I read your comments on the post about aging that hand signals are great to teach before dogs experience any hearing loss.

I tried to think of all the cues we use that have associated hand signals:

sit – upturned palm

stand – fist

down – pointer finger pointing to the ground

speak – “talking” hands

stay – hand up, palm out in a “stop”

wait – hand pointed to the left, palm out, swipe downward

watch me – touch nose with pointer finger

roll over – spin pointer finger

touch – hand pointed to the right, palm out

wave – waving

Now, having read The Genius of Dogs, plus Coop’s proficiency with hand signals, plus your helpful comments… I’m trying to think of additional cues that could use hand signals! I’m thinking “come” could use a hand signal, especially if they’re ever too far away to hear me call. And perhaps some other tricks?

Do you use hand signals? What cues do you use that have an associated signal?

Last night, Emmett and Lucas were bored! I’ve had to work late almost every night this week, and it’s been so hot that we haven’t gotten much walking in either. So at around 8:30 PM, I decided to take them outside and work on a new trick. Once I discovered that Emmett was a hoop-jumping fiend, I embellished it a little, and here’s what I came up with:

As you can see, Emmett catches on quickly, then proceeds to get a little carried away! I think we may have to refine the jumping a little bit… specifically, getting him to wait for his cue! I was really impressed with Lucas, too, for staying so still while his brother leapt over him.

This was a lot of fun, though, and I plan on working with them on more elaborate tricks!

What’s the most fun trick you’ve taught your dog? Any fun games you can try this weekend?